


Adrift

by BarefootJourney



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:21:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23027746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarefootJourney/pseuds/BarefootJourney
Summary: Seven shows up distraught, Janeway blames herself, and Gretchen is the mommiest mom that has ever mommed in the history of momdom."She's lucky to have you.""Lucky? All she's known is pain since the moment she met me.""That can't be true."
Relationships: Kathryn Janeway/Seven of Nine
Comments: 10
Kudos: 71





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry, but my head canon won't let the idea of shady Chakotay go. I don't want to make him an outright villain, but there is something that never sat right about him. Perhaps he isn't particularly violent, but I think he would sell his soul to save his ass, resulting in heaps of collateral damage. And he's impatient. And I want to make it better with couch snuggles.

After the evening's unexpected events, Gretchen Janeway shuffled to the kitchen to make tea. Sleep was elusive, though she wasn't entirely perturbed by it.   
There had always been something peacefully exciting about life at 0230. The frogs and crickets chirped soothingly in a sea of darkness, their time for performing nature's symphony before the sunrise cued the enthusiastic overture of morning birds. 

Kathryn and her Seven had been in the living room when she was last downstairs. A soft glow of light fell through the doorway, suggesting their presence still remained, but the silence offered the possibility that perhaps blissful unconsciousness had overtaken them. 

She tip-toed down the hall, but a floorboard creaked and groaned under her weight. That same damn one. Every time. 

"Mom?" Janeway's voice husked meekly.  
"Yes, honey? Did I wake you?"   
"No."   
Gretchen poked around the door frame, and was met with the sight of a lanky blonde draped atop Kathryn, head cradled against her chest, looking rather comfortable.   
Despite the circumstances that led to this moment, she couldn't deny the small knowing grin at the clearly visible bond between them.

"What time did she fall asleep?"   
"Hypospray. About an hour ago." She glanced over to the sedative on the table.

"She's lucky to have you." 

"Lucky? All she's known is pain since the moment she met me."   
"That can't be true."  
"I forced humanity upon her and she was given no choice but to undergo invasive surgeries. She's been abducted, injured, put in danger, used as a bargaining chip, been targeted, brutalized, experimented on... I asked her to trust me. And I haven't earned that trust." 

"I'd say you have." She pointed out how Seven clung to Kathryn.  
"She's drugged."   
"She came here seeking comfort and guidance and relief from fear. You are doing that."   
"And sucking at it."   
"You are doing your best to walk through a difficult life with a traumatised individual that had all her individuality and autonomy stripped from her. No, she didn't ask to be brought on Voyager, she didn't ask to stay, but she didn't ask to be dragged along on a hare-brained mission by parents more obsessed with the Borg than the safety of their child and assimilated, enslaved to life as a drone for 18 years."   
"I've tried to make the same argument with myself."   
"Well I'm making it now. You know I don't bullshit with you, Katie."   
"I should have protected her."   
"You gave her freedom."   
"That she wasn't ready for."   
"You allowed her to choose."   
"And look what happened because I didn't pry or hover."   
"And you fell out of a tree when you were 6 because I didn't want to hover. Broke your arm. Luckily it wasn't your neck. You were held hostage by Cardassians for 11 weeks because I encouraged you to take that assignment, even though I knew members of that crew did not hold up to the honour and loyalty standards of Starfleet. You were almost lost forever on the other side of the galaxy because I wasn't going to stop you from taking command of an impressive ship, even though it was headed for the Badlands." 

"But..." she didn't have any cohesive thoughts to formulate a proper protest. 

"No, honey. You know better than most that sometimes life is going to fuck you no matter how hard you try to be safe and do the right thing. You know it's not fair, it's not perfect and there are rare few moments when we get to experience happiness and contentment. You know how scary it is to let yourself feel those things, to acknowledge love because before you exhale the breath you're holding, it could all be taken from you. She is every bit as resilient as you are." 

"I want to take this from her. She's suffering. I still feel as if this is my fault, that Chakotay..."   
"What Chakotay did, he will pay for. You tried to give him the benefit of the doubt and he screwed up." 

"Mom?"   
"Mm?"   
"I love her."   
"I know. And she's home now."


	2. Chapter 2

"You need to get some rest."   
"I am." Janeway gestured to her current reclined position, pinned in place by an unconscious ex drone and raised her book as if making a toast.   
"Lying here skimming over words while fretting over Seven is not restful, nor does it substitute for actual sleep."   
"I considered helping myself to a dose of the hypospray... " she didn't need to finish adding that she wanted to remain alert in case something happened. 

... Gretchen placed a throw blanket over the two couch residents, then took the book from her daughter. 

She then made herself comfortable on the chair and launched into a fantastical tale about magic and horses and big winged beasts, princesses, mischievous little faeries, a castle, and adventure to far off lands.   
Juvenile subject, perhaps, but it was a magic of her own that she wielded expertly over her children, grown as they may be, she always knew what they needed. 

She watched as her words fell over her daughter and finally began to work with the fatigue and draw heavy eyelids closed. 

The breathing of the two individuals before her synched into a slow, steady rhythm as she continued her story.


End file.
